
A 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R raced by Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio today achieved a price of €51,155,000 (£42,757,906/US$53,007,616), making it the most valuable Grand Prix car ever sold.
This means it is the second most expensive car to be sold, bettered only by the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé that went for €135,000,000 (c£114m/$142m) on 5 May 2022.
Today’s event was a standalone auction, held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart – it was sold in the same room as the Uhlenhaut Coupé and both sales were with RM Sotheby’s.
The Mercedes had been donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in the USA back in 1965 by the then Daimler-Benz AG, and was sold to raise funds for that museum’s work.

Stirling Moss driving this Mercedes-Benz W196R on the banking at Monza in 1955
This is the first time a Streamliner-bodied Mercedes-Benz W196R has been offered for private ownership.
Chassis number 00009/54 attracted bidders from around the world, resulting in a fierce contest both in person and via telephone, before the gavel fell at that eye-watering price of €51,155,000.